Archive Photos

I really enjoy looking through older photos, and thought this would actually deserve a posting. It’s taken one the magic night 23. January 1216 pm. The northern light was absolutely stunning that evening…

Northern Lights January 23. 2012 with the Fagernes mt. and parts of the city Narvik in the foreground.

I captured this magnificent photo in february by the Old Skagen (Gl. Skagen) Beach, Denmark. Erosion of the sandy dunes is a big problem. Most places the shifting sand has been stopped by planting gras. But it is a formidable force they’re up against out there on the north-western tip og Denmark. Although it is a practical problem for people wanting to live there – the erosion have a beauty of it’s own. Well captured in this photo.

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In accordance with tradition I purchased the annual Christmas Tree yesterday from the local Lions Club outside the local supermarket REMA 1000 on Ankenes. Lions Club Narvik/Ankenes is a fantastic club! Every year the comb the area for land owners with Christmas Tree sized spuces (Norway Spruce) to sell for Christmas. Once they have found areas suitable for Christmas Trees, they go up (it is usually up a hill side or mountain) into the woods and cut spruces, drag them down to the nearest road and transport them into town.

The spruce I bought yesterday, was a fantastic tree. It smelled just like a spruce is supposed to smell like! And the branches was so thightly packed, it was just amazing! And all the trees for sale looked amazing!

So – what’s the money used for?

Like any other respectable Lions Club, Lions Club Narvik/Ankenes work for free to earn money for humanitarian projects in the local area, nation-wide and internationally.

Today I stopped by with my camera. I would say -9 degrees is pretty cold for a lion, but not these Lions! Their hearts are plenty warm by the important job they are doing to help their fellow human beings (and environment!) to endure the cold winter weather! I took a few shots of the Lions on Ankenes in action.

Do you want to buy the very best looking and smelling Christmas Trees in Narvik? And do you want to help people in need? Here’s the Lions Club sales stand by Rema 1000:

Lions Club Narvik/Ankenes selling Christmas Trees to aid people in need! It's a cold job!

I guess it’s in my Viking Blood. There are few other places I feel more at home than by and – especially – on the seas! And I know at least one place where the genes ran especially salty in the family – my Grandfather, Rolv Meyer Bjugn. Today I am sailing “just for fun” as 1st Officer on the proud Danish Jagt “Klitta” where I help teaching cub scouts about the joys of The Big Blue.

I just revisited some old pictures of my grandfather and the “modern” fishing vessel – the old N-5-Bø (N-5-Boe, in case the last letter in the registration doesn’t show correctly on your screen) – HAVLEIK. They later on bought a new, bigger wooden hull fishing vessel (63 ft.) and took the same registration number – N-5-Bø and the name Havleik. The “new” Havleik was later sold. She sank after a blazing fire off the coast outside Nesseby in Varangerfjord on the 25th of March 2008 – the entire crew made it in the rafts – but that’s another story. That fire put an end to the 89 year long Havleik era.

In 1936 she was registered with a Norwegian Wichmann 30 hp (the Wichmann was a semi-diesel engine – that is a two-stroke diesel engine).

Havleik consists of the two Norwegian nouns “hav“, which means sea and “leik” which means “play” (or loosly translated, “joy”). Thanks to Inge M. Johansen – gamlebilderfravesteralen.origo.no – I found these older b/w photos of this classic beauty. Locally she was known as “The Big 5’er” – relating to the registration number N-5-Bø (N for Nordland – the thrid northernmost county – fylke – in Norway).

The End

When the new Havleik was bought – the old one was sold to Kvæfjord outside Harstad. There she laid by an old peer year after year until her hull finally sprung a leak and she sank to the bottom. She was never recovered. An immensely sad way to treat such a gemstone of proud Norwegian culture and a classically beautiful ship.

So what about the fish?

After the fish was landed by the regional fishing vessels and preserved by freeze drying (known as tørrfisk in Norwegian meaning “dried fish” – stockfish), salting and/or – salting and sun drying (known as klippfisk), the produce was loaded onto bigger vessels known as Jekter or Nordlandsjekter. These are quite similar to my vessel – the Danish Yacht Klitta – only bigger. These sailed up and down the perilous Norwegian Coast, primarily to and from Bergen. In Bergen the fish was loaded onto even larger vessels and exported to Europe. Especially Portugal, Spain and Italy has historically been huge importers of Norwegian dried and salted fish.

The North-Atlantic fish (especially the species of cod and herring) is extremely nutritious and the cold, windy climate in the winter was perfect for freeze drying fish. The fish was hung on tall wooden racks and froze while at the same time dried (a process known as sublimation). Freeze dried fish – stockfish – has been known to be edible more than 100 years after being dried…

The other main method of preserving the fish, was salting it and sun drying it on the rocks. One Norwegian word for these rocks – and the same word as the English name “cliff” is “klippe” – hence the name “klippfisk” – “cliff fish” – clipfish.

Of course – fresh fish has been a primary source of nutrition for Norwegians since long before the Viking Period. But preservation has always been necessary for storage in case the weather didn’t allow for fishing. Later on these preserved and highly nutritious “protein bombs” became important sources for proteins in the mediterranean countries like Portugal, Spain and Italy. Later on canned Norwegian fish also became hugely popular in other European countries like Great Brittain.

You probably remember where you were on 9/11 2001? I was on my way to the pharmacy to pick up some drugs for my father. We had nursed him at home for some time at that point, due to the total incompetence of the local hospital. While driving to town I heard about the terror against the Twin Towers in New York. For the first few seconds I was convinced I had tuned into a film review program. It sounded unreal. The story was so fantastically unbelievable, that I was sure they in the next sentence would mention some director or actor. That was until I heard one of NRK’s famous reporters live from New York. That’s when it dawned on me – the world would never be the same again…

Three days later my dear, loving, wise father passed away from cancer. That is a week I’ll never ever forget – as long as I live. I guess the hurt and the sorrow from these so very evil days has become a part of me. They will never go away, they will probably never truly heal – but they are getting better and more integrated into who I am as a person for every passing day. And in the end – maybe that is what will matter.

By these beautiful – and so very true – words from the film “Dying to have known”, I leave this day and week in the hope of a better world with an end to naivety, stupidity and a prayer for all man kind to serve The Good and turn their back on evil:

For each of us eventually – whether we’re ready or not – some day, it will come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no more minutes, hours or days. All the things you collected – whether treasured or forgotten – will pass to someone else. Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or owed. Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear. So too your hopes, ambitions, plans and to-do-lists will expire. The wins and losses – that once seemed so important – will fade away. It won’t matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived at the end. Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured? What will matter is not what you bought but what you built. Not what you got but what you gave. What will matter is not what you learned but what you thought. What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered and encouraged others to emulate your example. What will matter is not your competence but your character. What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone. What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live on in those who loved you. What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.

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